From baseline to vision - making a plan to get to the vision.

Hopefully you have followed through the blog posts so far this year and have seen that sustainability is not all about tree hugging. If we use some of the language introduced this year, we can demonstrate how change is good not only for the environment, but also for people and the bottom line (economics). 

The way that sustainability issues are presented also is important so that people don't turn off and become disinterested. These topics can be presented in such a way that it is hard not to become engaged.  

For instance, when we started our discussions here about sustainability, we looked first at the 9 fundamental human needs and explained why it is important and gave an example of how to meet our need for sustenance (food, water and shelter we needed a healthy environment). 

We then looked at drivers of change.   We know that there are significant changing issues that drive change like increasing fuel and power prices, reduced availability of fresh water and also specific industry things like staff turnover,  inequitable wages, pressure to maintain knowledge, and comparisons with human practice.  You can review two  drivers of change funnel diagrams in this past blog post.  

Have a go at doing one for your own workplace (or community). Start by presenting irrefutable drivers of change that affect the business and then work through how each of those things can be mitigated. For example, you might think about how the business can improve its bottom line, reduce its eco footprint or improve its social well being. Thinking this way will not only improve the business's sustainability outlook, but can also create excellent marketing angles which in turn can improve the financial bottom line.

We now know that the system conditions provide a definition of sustainability,  in other words, if we adhere to these conditions, then we will be acting in a sustainable manner.  To apply this to the veterinary industry, we imagined what a veterinary practice would look like if it met these 4 system conditions.  This image below is just an example to stimulate discussion.  You might have your own ideas of what an ideal practice might look like.   

Now that we know what a vision of the sustainable future looks like, we can also use the 4 system conditions to do an audit against our current position - to provide a baseline of where we are now in a given situation - work place, home.  You can look at an example audit of the system conditions against  generic vet clinic on this prezi on slides 3-7.  Remember not all of these situations may apply to your workplace or business, for you, there may also be additional considerations.  By doing this audit you can create a list of the issues that need addressing.

If you then map these specific conditions on a graph, you can see which actions will have the highest impact and indicate where it would be most important to make a change.  This helps to prioritise which areas to focus on first.  You can choose the top 5 actions (with the highest impact and highest importance), set time frames, and take action. Involve experts if you need advice on a specific area or need someone to drive this change. Once the business is convinced of the benefits, then re-evaluate at the end of the time period, re set goals and continue the cycle.  Market what changes you are making  - declare your goals to your clients and tell then what you have achieved. This will create a marketing advantage which in itself will have economic benefits.  Remember to communicate to business owners - you need to relate everything back to the financial bottom line. 

Next week we will start looking at some drivers for change for a veterinary business, how we are violating the system conditions and explore an approach to resolving this conflict. I won't have all the answers so this will require input and feedback!  

If you would like to suggest some specific topics to cover then email me and I will endeavour to cover these.  

Have a great week.